Your Morning Dump... Where Doc could see this coming

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

“You could see it early,” said Doc Rivers.

Or earlier.

“I thought we had two lousy practices,” he said. “I thought our preparation was pulling nails. And, so, that was the result.”

Herald - Flat-out Awful

It seemed the Celtics made few if any adjustments from Game 2, as if an identical game plan would work against a Cleveland club that spent the past three days watching more game tape than Bill Belichick. They depended too much on Rajon Rondo, didn’t use any fresh ways to get Ray Allen open, and practically ignored rebounding. It was a lazy response in a critical series and now the Celtics have to attempt to get their vigor back in practice, a tough assignment for an uneven practice team.

Globe - Bad Habits Resurface

I should have seen this coming, I've watched the Celtics all season long, I know their tendencies. 

This has nothing to do with Xs and Os, why the Celtics didn't rebound, why they didn't get the ball to KG enough, etc.

This team's overconfidence breeds lazy habits. It's a characteristic they will have for the rest of this season. Accept it.

Does last night's performance mean the series is over? Hell no. In fact, I fully expect this team to bounce back and win Game 4.

On Page 2, searching out the Truth.

In three games, Pierce  hasn't scored more than 14 points while shooting just 31 percent from the field.

"I could have scored 30 tonight and we probably would have lost the game the way we played defense," Pierce said. "Obviously I have to shoot the ball better; get to my spots and do a better job a that. But, it's not about one person. It's not gonna bother me at all, I know I can bounce back. But I gotta do it within the framework of the team where it's gonna equal wins because, you know, it's not all about one person."

CSNNE - Celtics Notes

Paul is wrong. His scoring can help the team's defense. How so? If he comes out shooting 6-10 instead of 3-10, the Celtics are down 6 instead of 12. It slows the Cavs momentum and takes some of the defensive pressure off the team to get stops.

The rest of the links:

Globe - Blown opportunity | Any elbow talk strained now | Cavs make Garnett work | Herald - Pierce's production problematic | LeBron: Joint chief of stuff | No defense for effortless flop | ESPN Boston - Postgame notes | WEEI - Doc presser | Paul/Perk press conference | CSNNE - Rondo's struggles breed Celtics defeat |